Even in record year for whale sightings off the Bay Area Coast in the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary, sighting a pair of humpback whales lunge feeding in tandem is a rare event

Even in record year for whale sightings off the Bay Area Coast in the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary, sighting a pair of humpback whales lunge feeding in tandem is a rare event

Photo: Tom Stienstra, Cornelia Oedekoven / Courtesy NOAA

Whale of a time for whale watching

1 / 2

Back to Gallery

Whale sightings in the Gulf of the Farallones Marine Sanctuary off the Bay Area coast this past year were among the highest ever verified by naturalists, reported both the Oceanic Society and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Sightings this past week out of Monterey make a repeat year appear imminent. On the Bay Area coast, the annual winter trips, which focus on the gray whale migration, start this weekend out of Pillar Point Harbor in Half Moon Bay.

In late summer and fall, on 37 trips with the Oceanic Society, naturalists verified sightings of 232 blue whales (six per trip) and 825 humpback whales (22 per trip), the highest on record for its public whale watching trips. In addition, sightings of marine birds were also sensational, drawn to the area most by an endless buffet of krill and juvenile anchovies.

At Southeast Farallon Island, marine biologists from Point Blue Conservation, perched at a lookout, had the highest verified whale sightings on June 26: 216 humpback whales, 14 blue whales and 18 whales that were unidentified.

In more than 50 years of biologists logging one- and two-hour sightings from the island, this short siege is likely the record, said Mary Jane Schramm of NOAA.

She said most of the whales, other marine mammals, fish and seabirds were drawn to the Bay Area coast “by incredible amounts of krill, tiny shrimp-like crustaceans, and small fish in the sanctuary’s protected waters.”

“The variations in sightings reflects how concentrated the whales were in one particular area, versus other areas,” Schramm said. “The Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary was a real hot spot.”

Gray whales, on the other hand, have started their winter-to-early summer migration between their winter birthing and mating grounds off Baja to 5,000 miles north to their summer feeding grounds off the Alaskan Peninsula and Aleutian Islands.

“The whale sightings have been incredible,” said Chris Biertuempfel of the Oceanic Society. “The previous year was fantastic, but this past year even eclipsed that.”

More from Tom Stienstra

Whale sightings in San Francisco Bay were once so rare that just spotting the “puff-of-smoke” of a whale’s exhale from its blow hole could make the news. This past year, it became a common sighting from boats and the Marin Headlands.

The giant whales are a bridge between people, regardless of their backgrounds, according to the Oceanic Society. “The majority of our customers come in twos and they are newcomers,” Biertuempfel said.

This year’s season is already a go out of Monterey Bay. Migrating gray whales are moving through. Whale watchers estimate that 15 to 20 humpbacks, either juveniles or nonpregnant females, have not migrated south and have remained in the feeding grounds. They are joined by a pod of orcas, waiting for the annual arrival of female gray whales with their young calves in hopes of dislodging a calf for a feast.

On a trip out from Monterey this past week, those aboard Princess Monterey saw four gray whales off Lovers Point, three humpback whales along the edge of the submarine canyon and five orcas off Marina Beach. Along the way, they had a buffet of bird sightings that included Cassin’s auklets, loons, grebes, murres, pelicans and northern fulmars.

Model should go big: “I’m down from Reno for the holiday and we cruised up to Mount Diablo. Imagine my surprise to find your column (about bike safety on Diablo) Sunday morning. The situation up there is very impressive. Heard a lot of thank-yous from bikers for simple courtesies, and there’s mostly a sense of real cooperation and respect amongst all the players. Pretty cool. Definitely would like to see the model go big.” — Jim Irvine

Blind corners: “As a cyclist who rides Mount Diablo three times a week, I must say that the number of cars that continue to pass bikes on blind corners continues at around 40 percent, which is just too high. ... You could add a line, that by passing on a blind corner, the driver isn’t gaining much time on their drive up the mountain — and that since you’re driving up such a beautiful mountain, why not enjoy the view?” — Mike Hrast

Courtesy goes both ways: “I’ve been a road cyclist for 30 years, including 20 riding Diablo. My impression is that cyclists are way more discourteous than motorists. ... One nice thing you can do as a cyclist when ascending the narrow roads of Diablo is to pull over, stop and let the car traffic pass if you’ll be blocking a lane on a long uphill curve. It only takes a few seconds, but the karma points are huge.” — Steve Lombardi

Cars-only, bikes-only: “I drive on Page Mill Road in Palo Alto in my work truck on Saturdays and Sundays. The bicycle riders are everywhere on this narrow two-lane road. They are a huge safety issue. I would like to share the road this way: ban all bicycles except for six hours on the weekend, and then during those six hours, ban all motor vehicles except for homeowners and emergency service vehicles.” — Hans Roth

Bikes vs. shuttle bus: “A group of us rode out from San Francisco to Point Reyes Lighthouse this past weekend and were turned away by park rangers about 4 miles from the lighthouse. They said it was closed to all vehicles including bicycles, except the Marin Airporter shuttle buses. As you can probably guess, we were disappointed. The ranger said there was some sort of incident between the bikes and the shuttle buses. I guess the buses won and now have blocked access for bikes on weekends. I am sure there’s room for both.” — Alan Schacter